


Los Angeles

by FrostWyrm96



Category: Original Work
Genre: Budding Love, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Friendship, Light Angst, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romance, suggest tags please
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:21:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26615863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrostWyrm96/pseuds/FrostWyrm96
Summary: At the age of sixteen, she was homeless but joined a small circle of people that helped her through 2019 to 2020. When a dear member of the small circle unfortunately murdered, seventeen-year-old Joanna temporarily moved away to find a new place to dwell, until one fateful day, on a beautiful evening at Santa Monica Bay, she met the person who changed her life entirely - her soulmate.
Relationships: Joanna Lowe/Aurelian Palaiologos, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added





	Los Angeles

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my second original work that have been plaguing my mind to release it and here it is! Enjoy reading!

**16 August 2020**

Her life had been wonderful and amazing before the turning point. Joanna didn’t care but her friends and schoolmates, and those around her had praised her for her beauty. As much as she want those around her to praise her academic intellectual, they just wanted to befriend her for her beauty and appearance. It was even worse with the boys who were just trying to get into her pants.

Joanna Sophia Lowe, born in 17 July 2002 to a rich family in Los Angeles. One of the richest family in the West Coast, in fact. That was why her life had been wonderful and amazing, until she had a boyfriend, of course. If only she wasn’t so blinded by his appearance back then, Joanna wouldn’t be homeless by now.

Her ex-boyfriend, Joanna shuddered even at the thought of the name being mentioned in her mind, was Bradley Cooper. Handsome quarterback but was an academically failure and Joanna even asked herself why she even fell for his appearance. What happened was that they both got hooked up for two months and in one of his big parties, got her knocked up. But she didn’t noticed it until Joanna realised the symptoms.

And it was too late already. When Joanna broke the news to her parents after visiting a pharmacy secretly, her parents went outrageously mad at her (her family had always been strict) and no assistance from her siblings came. Joanna was forced out of the house the very night and her first destination was to go to Bradley’s albeit with big reluctance.

Their relationship had dwindled significantly to strangers since the night he got Joanna knocked up. When she arrived at his mansion’s door, Joanna wasn’t surprised that Bradley already had a new girlfriend, a pretty cheerleader name Nicole Porter. They talked privately outside and it quickly escalated into an argument, rage on Bradley’s side that he attacked her with punches and kicks when Joanna told him that baby was his and that she needed a place to stay.

Blood came out from her nose and mouth, and when she got up she stared at him with a deathly glare with contempt and her mind wanted to say to him to go fuck himself to death but instead her mouth instead said that she regretted ever meeting him in the first place, let alone dating him, and that she wished him a good future though with bitterness.

After she had left Bradley’s mansion, she tried texting her friends for help but none came. Not even her best friend, Sarah Johnson, answered her plea even though she read Joanna’s texts. Her first stop as a sixteen years old, two-months pregnant, disowned teenager was to go to an abortion clinic that took her almost two hours just to walk there. With whatever savings she had in her saving fund box, it costed her almost entirely for the pills but it was worth it.

Joanna didn’t want to raise Bradley’s poison on her own, let alone wanting his spawn. With a snort of contemptuous derision, she supposed that was her ex’s gift for her sixteenth birthday; a baby to ruin her life.

Three months since she was homeless, she joined a small circle of the kindest and sweetest people she had ever met in her life. Ms. Elisabeth Johnson, Mr. William Smith Sr., Ms. Marianne Ada, and Josias “Toothy Jo” Gomez. All of them were older than her; they were at their mid-forties and when Joanna joined she was the youngest in the circle. But they all share two things together: homeless and emotionally broken. She was the closest to Ms. Elisabeth Johnson who was like a real mother to her than her actual mother.

Ms. Johnson’s story on how she got homeless was that she was cheated in an investment and Ms. Johnson had to file for bankruptcy and sold many of her valuables and that was how she got homeless. Mr. Smith’s, an elderly African-American of age forty-seven, was fired on his last job that he desperately needed the income to support himself in the life in LA. Ms. Ada ran away from her family due to neglection and poor treatment of her from her family. And then there was Toothy Jo… abandoned by his parents when he was only two years old on the streets because of his queerness when, deep inside himself, was one of the most sweetest and kindest person Joanna had ever met. It was his queerness that made Toothy Jo unique but she supposed his parents – who were most probably dead now – didn’t see it.

It wasn’t much but for New Year’s Eve they celebrated as much as they could. Joanna had her first real alcohol even though it was just two sips, watched the fireworks, and had decent food they had from McDonald’s. But the happiness didn’t last long.

When Joanna came back from a walk to stretch her legs, there was a crime scene with police officers and ambulance and medics on the scene just outside of the place her and her small circle dwell. Joanna rushed in and saw a body covered with a white cloth but she recognised the bracelet too well. The police told her that a drunken man had stabbed her ten times in the stomach with a combat knife and Ms. Elisabeth Johnson presumably died on the fifth stroke.

Her mind was hollow when the ambulance escorted by the police cars drove off in the distance, and when she got back to her dwelling she broke down hard. It was only two days before Joanna’s seventeenth birthday.

The small circle had been so quiet since the unfortunate passing of a beloved member but they were there for each other. When it was Joanna’s seventeenth birthday, they tried to cheer her up despite still grieving for the loss of Ms. Elisabeth and gave her gifts. It wasn’t anything fancy but it was still sweet and wholesome. However, when it was time to sleep, Toothy Jo gave her another gift that he said it was from Ms. Elisabeth.

Joanna went back to her dwelling and opened the small wrapped box. Inside contained two pictures of her and Ms. Elisabeth, and her and the small circle members, a paper with contents, and another small black box. Joanna teared a bit when she took up the picture of her and Ms. Elisabeth, and she broke down harder when she read the letter.

_My dear little Joanna,_

_Happy Seventeenth Birthday to you my sweet girl. Last year was a hard turning point in your life but just remember that we’re all here for you, dear. I’m here for you._

_Life hadn’t been pleasant for the rest of us too but that doesn’t mean we don’t laugh or smile anymore. You have to do that often, Joanna, and it compliments your appearance significantly._

_The gift inside the box had been in my family for generations, and it’s one of the last few things I didn’t give it away and I held it for so long until now._

_There’s no reason for me to keep it for myself any longer. I want you to have it. I have always wanted you to have the moment we bonded together but I hesitated until your birthday._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Elisabeth Ada._

She cried hard reading the letter and when she opened the small black box, teared down even harder. It was a beautiful silver necklace with diamonds. Joanna wore it every day and never took it off unless she had to. She treasured all of their gifts preciously and kept the letter.

Three days after her birthday, Joanna decided to move away and try to find a new spot as the previous one was too much for her to handle. She hugged all of them – Mr. William Smith Sr., Ms. Marianne Ada, and Josias “Toothy Jo” Gomez before bidding them a temporary farewell until their next meeting. She found a secret spot near Venice Beach and dwelled there since.

On the 16 August 2020 was a fateful day for her. Joanna, sitting on a sitting bench on Santa Monica Pier overlooking the beautiful sunset of the golden hour, contemplating deeply and not caring what the others around her were saying with the noises. Despite all of it, she was at serenity.

Her peace was suddenly interrupted when a guy of her age with a black short unkempt hair wearing a green hoodie with grey sport pants and a pair of sandals, decently looking but with a delicately-shaped nose like hers with a pair of very dark brown eyes resembling almost black, a nicely-shaped nose, and wore a black spectacle, and a dark brown skin tone. To most people, like her former friends from high school, he would be categorised as “less-appealing” in appearance but Joanna found herself interested in him but she kept quiet and stared at him.

He was holding a paper map with his hands and was having a hard time. Joanna, with caution, offered her assistance. “Do… do you need help?” She asked him kindly.

The guy scratched his head dumbfoundedly and then turned to her with an appreciatively smile. “Y-yeah…” He answered, slightly stammering. “Can you tell me where is Stout Burgers & Beers?” He asked politely and sweetly.

Stout Burgers & Beers? Joanna had heard of that hamburger restaurant before but never went there but knew there were a lot of good reviews of it. If memory recalled, the hamburger restaurant was located in North Cahuenga Boulevard. Joanna leaned in a bit and pointed it on the map. “It’s here, just the road north of The Los Angeles Film School.” She said.

“Oh… That’s pretty far.” He sounded so defeated that Joanna just wanted to chuckle but she restrained herself because it would be bad. “I guess I’ll just have dinner around here. Do you know any good place to eat? Disregarding the price, I want taste and service.”

“Erm… I’m not so entirely sure.” It was Joanna’s turned to scratched the back of her head. “Well, there is The Lobster just exiting the Santa Monica Pier. I heard it’s good so I supposed that’s an option.” She said. Then a question came to her head and asked. “Don’t you have a smartphone to help you navigate?”

“Ah, yes, I was thinking of that as an alternative as well. And for the smartphone matter… my Samsung S20 Ultra’s battery died on me for playing Pokémon GO.” He answered with a shameless chuckle. “Would you… would you like to join me?”

Joanna was taken aback by his sudden straightforwardness, and he looked at him with wariness. “W-what…?”

“I’m sorry for being too straightforward. I’m new here in Los Angeles. Just recently came from West Virginia three days ago and I’m still relying on Uber to take me around even though I have my own cars and ask the Uber drivers for spots to eat and stroll.” He laughed at his self-esteem and then shook his head. “My name is Aurelian, pleased to meet you, your name…?”

“Joanna.” She shook his hand and the feeling of his skin was soft and pleasant. Joanna smiled at him. “Pleased to meet you too, Aurelian. But I think I’m unable to join you for dinner.. my attire isn’t really appealing…”

“Really? Look at what I’m wearing and who cares about the others? I’m not forcing you to join me, and I am certainly not a creepy or bad guy – just to clarify on that – but I have not a friend in Los Angeles, let alone in California.” He sighed. “Like I said, I’m not forcing but it’d be nice of you to join me at The Lobster. I’m treating, by the way.”

Joanna shook her head slowly. “No… it’s just that… I’m a homeless person.” She answered honestly, feeling a bit ashamed but there was no denying it.

“Oh… so, do you still want to join me for dinner? We can talk and get to know more of each other and hope that we’d be friends. The ones I asked prior to meeting you have rejected my offer to be my guidance to Los Angeles for a dummy like me but I was willing to pay them a lot for a day. Makes me wonder why they looked at me like I was some sort of crazy person when I told them how much I was willing to pay.”

“Well… I’d love to join you for dinner but I don’t think I have the means to pay you back for it.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Aurelian then placed his left hand palm on his chest. “I’m treating for it and no need for a pay back.”

“A-are you s-sure?” Joanna stammered, shocked at his kindness.

He nodded with a friendly smile. “Since you have no place to stay, I’ll offer you to stay at my place if you’re comfortable with it. I swear by whatever gods out there – if they even exists – that I mean it with good intentions. I even have a four-year-old Saint Bernard name Cosmo that I adopted when I was in West Virginia…”

“Hey…” Joanna stopped him for his blabbering that she found it cute. “I’d love to go dinner with you at The Lobster, though I’m not sure about your offering to me of a place to stay at your home.”

He hummed. “Well, let’s go eat and then we can talk more about it, and get to know more each other. Shall we?”

They both then got up and walked towards The Lobster, exiting the Santa Monica Pier. Little did Joanna knew, Aurelian was her soulmate her heart had been waiting for. Even more so that he was the world’s first trillionaire and a literal mad genius that will have an impact on humanity globally. But for now, the story was only for the two of them.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope that it is enjoyable to read and if there is/are any mistake(s) please do let me know in the comments below. I'll re-edit and update it as fast as I can.


End file.
